Organizers of this yearâ€™s Martyrâ€™s Day commemoration cautioned that lack of interest by the government and the public have endangered the legacy of the annual holiday.

Shankar Poudel, chief organizer of a remembrance event yesterday, said ambivalence has marked that last several years of the holiday.

â€śWe invited government officials and others, but no one showed up,â€ť he said. About 50 people turned up this year to lay garlands at Martyrâ€™s Gate, which Poudel said was even at risk of being demolished.

â€śAmid political protests five years ago, a crowd of more than a hundred came to demolish the gate. But we, though small, hope to keep the tradition alive annually.â€ť

Martyrâ€™s Day honors victims of political violence, particularly those killed under the reign of the Rana dynasty, a family that ruled under a system of hereditary prime ministers from 1846 to 1951.

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai paid tribute yesterday to the martyrs by laying a floral wreath at a little-known Martyrs Memorial Park in Lainchaur, where members of the military also celebrate the martyrs.

Some political activists have argued that the day should also acknowledge the deaths of more than 13,000 people under the countryâ€™s Maoist government between 1996 and 2006, and that events at the Martyrâ€™s Gate should be halted.

In a move that highlights the political divide over national martyrs, the Maoist-led government earlier this month ruled that a statue of the nationâ€™s last monarch, King Tribhuwan, is to be relocated to the Narayanhiti palace.

This yearâ€™s commemoration also included an announcement by Kathmanduâ€™s chief executive officer, Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, that families of the four martyrs honored by the Shahid gate would receive a monthly compensation of 10,000 rupees (about US$188), and that new libraries in the country will bear the martyrsâ€™ names.